Underwater
by CaptainMatick
Summary: Regina casts the curse, but it doesn't work the way The Evil Queen planned it, and the entire land around the castle is swallowed underwater. Emma is still sent away by the magic wardrobe and has to grow up alone in the Enchanted Forest. She becomes a bounty hunter well-skilled and lives a life she likes... that is until she meets him.


**Okay guys, here is my new fic.**  
**It's kind of an AU, I mean, the curse happens, but not the way expected and Emma still has to grow up alone most of her life.**  
**It's a reference to one of my favorite myths, I hope you'll get it & like it!**

**I must warn you, some things are different from the original plot, including the characters hit by the curse. You'll see by yourself if you read ;)**

**Summary : Regina casts the curse, but it doesn't work the way The Evil Queen planned it, and the entire land around the castle is swallowed underwater. Emma is still sent away by the magic wardrobe and has to grow up alone. She becomes a bounty hunter well-skilled and lives a life she likes... that is until she meets him.**

_**Disclaimer : Unfortunately, none of the characters is mine, nor is the story they come from. **_

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"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere horrible. Absolutely horrible. A place where the only happy ending will be min- "

A deafening sound echoed through the castle and the entire land surrounding Prince Charming and Snow White's castle, cutting off the Evil Queen's victorious laughter. The ground began to tremble, cracking and vibrating. The volume of the noise generated by the earthquake increased and Snow discerned panick in Regina's eyes.

"What's going on?" She hastened to ask, still holding tight onto her husband's lifeless body, laying on the shivering floor. Tears began to pool in her eyes. It was the end.

"I don't know! The curse... it's not working!" Regina turned her head in quick motions all around, attempting to figure out what was going on. It was definitely not what she had planned. She was supposed to be happy in this new land, to finally have the happy ending that had escaped her reach here because of Snow White.

_Then again, what was wrong with it?_

She had sacrified the heart of the person she loved most, just as Rumplestiltsking had told her; her father was dead, she had ripped his heart out. So, why didn't it work? If that twisted imp had played with her, he was gonna pay. She would go as far as it takes to have her happy ending. She deserved it.

A loud thud spread all over the place and the floor fall 6 feet under its normal place, Regina, Snow, Charming falling at the same time. Apparently, the castle wasn't the only one part of the Enchanted Forest descending to the depth. A huge part of the forest, some villages and some mountains were coming along as well.

"Regina, do something! It's getting out of control!" Snow yelled at her step-mother, which was visibly paralized by the whole thing. She didn't know what the Queen had planned for them, but she was now sure that she wasn't expecting that. Regina's mouth fell open, but no word came out; her eyes wide open, she blinked a few times, just as speechless.

The two women lifted up their head and their stares locked on a green shining dome, created by magic, which was slowly enclosing the whole zone, protecting it from the water as it was swallowed by the sea.

"As usual, I guess?" The bartender asked her with a smile and a knowing look. She was really frequenting this tavern too often. Not that it was a bad thing. She liked to have her daily drink while reading the last press. It was the most relaxing part of the day.

Not that she didn't like her job – or whatever it could be called – because she really enjoyed being a bounty hunter. It was entertaining, dangerous, adventurous and there was no day like the one before. She travelled a lot, fighted as well, and earned money. What more could she want? She had all she wanted on Earth.

She drifted her eyes toward the old bearded patron, abandoning for a second the inked page she was reading, and smiled back at him. "Yes, please." Then he turned his back, grabbing a pint and began to fill it in, while she came back to the paper she had in hand.

"Hmm... this one hasn't a big reward enough either." She muttered, visibly annoyed. Usually, she found an interesting bandit to arrest and bring back to the soldiers, and was rewarded by a leather purse full of golden pieces of money, but today, apparently, there was no one worth her. There were only unrecognized thievess who had stolen an apple on the market or some children who had robbed rotten bread to feed themselves, with no intention to harm anyone.

_She knew the situation very well_. She had done that a few times when she was a kid, because she had no one to take care of her. She had to do it all by herself since she was 5. Because that, she had kind of a family.

_An old guy, whose name was Gepetto had adopted her when he had discovered her, laying in the mood on the forest ground, enveloped in her white swaddle. _

_This old man had already a boy, but he had taken her as if she was his own. She had learned a bit later that this little boy had been adopted too. Indeed, Gepetto and his wife – who had passed away many years before he met her – had tried to have their own child for many years before she died, but never succeeded. He had lived alone for a few years but still craved to have children, so he took her and Pinocchio – it was the little boy's name, as though he liked August better – and offered them a home, and a family._

And Emma never expected life to be so hard with her. When she was 5, she remembered very clearly Gepetto looking through the window, panick feeling his eyes, and then telling August to take her and leave through the underground tunnel he had built. 12-years-old August seemed to understand something Emma was clueless about, and grabbed her hand. The last thing she remembered was hearing something knocking at the door and Gepetto opening it, before being thrown against the floor, threatened by very strange-looking men.

_She also remembered she wanted to scream, to go to the old man she considered like her father, to protect him – even though she wouldn't be able to do anything against the adult attackers – but her intentions were interrupted by one of August's hands tightening around her forearm, the other one coming upon her mouth, preventing her from yelling, the sounds she was giving out suffocating against his palm._

She started to cry as he forced her to enter the hidden hollow, after he closed the trap. He then began to run in the dirty cave, leading the way with a torch, not caring about her cries as he probably tried to save both their lives. She understood that, she had always been very bright and mature for her age. What she didn't understand what why did they have to leave Gepetto behind? What couldn't he come with them?

"He sacrified himself to save our life, Ems. We have to keep running." August answered the silent questions invading her brain. His grip on her was still strong, but she acknowledged he had started to shiver. His voice remained harsh; however, she perceived a hint of sadness in it. August too had started to break down.

_They rushed deeper and deeper into the tunnel, and it seemed to last an eternity for Emma. Eventually, they lowered their pace, and August gave the torch to Emma, who was still a bit weeping. She hold it high so her brother could see the handle of the trap above them. They had finally arrived at the end of it. _

Emma still couldn't believe what she had seen. Even now that she was a grown woman. The memory of losing the only person she had considered like her father had never faded in her mind. The strange men hitting him to death, August grabbing her arm, her willing to yell, to do something, not to feel useless.

She closed her eyes tightly and she began to drink the pint she had been served while the flashback had rushed into her thoughts. She was still holding the sheets of paper in her hand, and she had unconsciously crumpled them slightly. The beginning of a headache appeared and she started to rub her forehead as she took a sip of her drink.

_Alcohol was a good medicine._ Always had been for her. She had had some hard times during her youth, and it had definitely helped. Growing up and feeling the need to find a job, she had restrained and moderated herself, but she still daily had her dose. She didn't have to take a strong drink, but she needed to feel the relaxation of her brain.

She turned around from the counter, her pint still in hand, her other hand releasing the press and coming on her leather-covered leg. Still sitting on her stool, she peered at every corner of the tavern. Maybe she could find someone to play with, so she would still earn some pieces of money till she found a better victim to bring back to the soldiers. She would earn more money by playing than by getting the reward for every men on the paper today.

But there was no player here. Well, that was her day. She would have to go to another tavern, take another drink, and do it again until she eventually found someone to play with. She hated when she had to do that.

Or maybe she could just come back to the docks and avoid eating for a few days, until a more famous bandit came to visit the lovely harbor village she had taken up residence in. She had travelled a lot of times, more than she could remember, permanently escaping the strange men that had killed Gepetto and had forced her to live without a family.

_Not that she needed one now. She did better on her own._

She had come to this quiet village, surrounded by a dense forest, which she had difficulty to get through, for a while now and she still hadn't heard of those men. She had obscured tracks, feigning to go to another village and then changing direction without any clue left behind. However, she was sure they could eventually come here. That was no big deal, she just would have to leave once more.

Emma didn't even know what these guys wanted from her. Especially her, a little girl who didn't matter. Maybe they thought she was some kind of lost princess and were trying to bring her back to her castle. As if it could be true. She was no one, she had no value other than her skills, the ones she had trained for.

Her weapon of choice was daggers; she was fast, dextrous and relatively quiet. She wanted to be called a 'freelance bounty hunter', because she only obeyed to herself and earned money for herself, she never took any customer, she didn't want to be at the mercy of a rogue. Nevertheless, with the skills she possessed, she could as well be called an assassin. She never left proof of her passage.

Indeed, she did not kill people, but she could. It's just that she didn't want to have her hands stained with blood. She had injured some people, when they were tough and didn't yield. But never killed. She prefered to deliver the bandits to the soldiers, alive.

But, she was pretty good at archery or swordfighting; she even had a tiny crossbow she sometimes used to deaden the most tough victims she had to encounter. Necks and ankles were the target of her teeny arrows coated with some sort of sleeping pheromone she found on flowers and whose making was one of her secret.

She had grown up all by her own so she had to be able to take care of herself, whatever situation she was in. She had made a lot of enemies during the past years, but they weren't like the killers of her father, they weren't following her at all the corners of Earth. When she left a town, they abandoned the chase. Another reason to 'why did she move so often'.

When her pint was completely empty, she put it back on the counter and jumped on her feet, her boots meeting the wooden floor in a soft noise. She waved at the bartender and headed toward the street, pushing away the door as she passed.

That was a sunny and rather warm day, with some cloud here and there, but not enough to hide the sun. Seagulls shouting loudly above her head, she followed one with her eyes as she started to amble down the streets to the docks, next to the harbor. The smell of the sea was omnipresent, and that was what she loved about this little town.

She had always been attracted to the see, but had never been able to fulfill her dreams of adventure. She couldn't afford to anyway. She had to escape the men and the sea could be a good option, but she also have to hunt down robbers. Indeed, she could always pursue pirates, but she would be in the middle of the sea, and Emma liked to be able to run away, to escape. There, with the water all around her, she wouldn't be able to.

_That was why she loved the ocean but also feared it._

It was a free place, where imagination and will ran wild, but unpredictable and once sailing, it was impossible to flee. And she couldn't take the risk.

She made her way to a warehouse, where fishing men were stocking their gathering. Fish is a very odorous food, but she had gotten used to it now. She slid between the stone wall of the building and a pile of very big wooden crates, reaching her shelter by the hidden trap she had made in one of the crates. She didn't fear being discovered, because she had analyzed very well those boxes. Nobody ever came to check on them, nor throw them away.

She entered her small abode, walking on her hands and knees because of the low ceiling, and lighted up the candle she had put in a corner, next to her bed – if we could call that a bed. She lowered herself on the blanket and closed her eyes. She had nothing to eat, nor to do, and she felt a bit tired because of the starvation. The best she could do was to take a nap.

She was woken up by the yells of some men laughing and walking loudly on the wharfs. She rubbed her eyes and forehead in slow, insistent motions, trying to get herself fully awaken before straightening a bit. "Ouch! God, why is this ceiling so low?" Her head had hit the wooden roof of the crate.

She blew the light of the candle off and stretched herself as she came out of her tiny lodging. Her stomach began to gurgle, slowly and quietly at first, the volume increasing, and Emma put a hand on her stomach. "Well... let's hope there is gonna be some players at the tavern now." She still had some pieces of money in her purse, but she hated to be totally broke. She always needed to keep some golden coins, just in case.

The sun was now going low in the sky, nearly embracing the sea, the dreamy colors of the early sunset bringing some light to the atmosphere. While peering at the sea, she noticed a new ship landed in the harbor. One she had never seen before, nor heard of it. It was beautiful; two masts standing high in the sky, white sails dancing with the wind, the hull white below, dark blue, brown and yellow on the upper side.

She let go off the sight and turned her heels back to the other side, toward the tavern. She would use one of her remaining coins to buy herself a drink, otherwise, she wouldn't be able to come and play with people, but she wouldn't eat. She couldn't afford it.

As she walked in the street and approached the well-known tavern, she heard the sound of very enthusiastic and raw laughters, and the singing lyrics of a pirate's tale. _So the new ship docked in the harbor belonged to pirates, uh?_ Well, that was interesting. Maybe their Captain would be famous enough to enable her to earn enough money; who knew?

She pushed the door open, and the manly corporal smells invaded her senses, along with the scent of see and rum. She smiled at it; Emma had always liked despite herself this kind of atmosphere. It felt right and adventurous. Wild.

She made her way to the counter, reaching the stool she had sat on earlier this day, and collected the sheets of paper she had let there. "Sorry, forgot them ealier." She said to the patron, who was already filling her her pint.

"I'll pay for the lady there." She heard a man with a low voice and a very pronounced accent say, his mouth not so far from her ear as he talked. She turned her head to him, raising a brow and putting her defensive facial mask on.

"Who are you?" She asked with a rather gelid tone. If there was something she really hated, that was this kind of approach. She didn't like that men feel the need to pay for a woman, thinking that they cannot take care of themselves. Her gaze outfaced him; the stranger was quite handsome.

He had a lean beautiful face, thick eyebrows, dark-raven hair and the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. However, his gaze was cold and sharp. He was wearing an entire leather outfit, from chest to toes. The collar of a black shirt rubbed against his chin, scratching the stubble there and wasn't buttoned till very low; Emma almost had the whole view of his chest, which was covered with a layer of black hairs.

_Hell, this daring bastard was sexy._

"Killian Jones," he began, his voice still low and one of his eyebrows cocked – did he have any control of those things? -, "but, most people have taken to call me by my more colorful moniker: Hook." He lifted up his left hand... or rather arm, and Emma realized he had no left hand, actually. Instead, he had a steel hook which he was waving in a smug way at her, a wide smirk dancing across his face.

Emma raised her eyebrows as well, and flickered her eyes back to his head after examinating the appendage stuck to his left arm. "Never heard of you." She replied nonchalantly, trying to sound as annoyed as possible. She heard him chuckle beside her but didn't look at him. She sipped her drink a few times and met his eyes once more as she turned her head back to him, hoping he would have left.

_Of course, he hadn't._

Never breaking the eyes connection, she hissed with a proud smile on her lips. "And thanks for offering to pay my drink, but I'm a grow woman, I can take care of myself." She brought her pint back to her lips and locked her eyes in front of her.

"Aye. I can see that, lass." His smirked still lightening his features, he went on. "But I consider myself as a man with a code, you see, and I never let a lady drink alone."

"So, now you're gonna be a gentleman?"

"I'm always a gentleman."

"I doubt that." She retort coldly, her tone haughty. "Otherwise, you wouldn't force yourself on me when I don't want your company." Her lips curled up in a smile, the same way as his. She winked at him defiantly. "By the way, keep your money, I'll pay my drink." She finished, giving the money to the bartender and lifted herself up.

He jumped on his feet at the same time but didn't say anything to her, and walked away, cheering the group of men singing and laughing loudly in the middle of the room, grabbing a pint and joining the party; probably his crew. _God, pirates were annoying_. Not the atmosphere they were bringing to this usually-too-quiet tavern, but the way they talked and challenged people who didn't want to deal with them except to be rewarded by their captur.

The thought that crossed her mind made her smile. This pirate dared to come and talked to her; he didn't know her at all, didn't know what she could do to him. He had just assumed she was another one of these common whores who threw themselves at men to earn some money, being used by men as toys.

After a while, she finally found someone eager to play some money. Emma had frequented so many taverns in her life that she perfectly knew 90% of the boardgames or card games men liked, and were sure to win. Well, except against her. Emma was perfect at bluff and she could even cheat furtively. _No one ever noticed._

They played, and as usual, she won. She cheated twice, but hide it behind some kind of bluff, and her opponent didn't behold anything. _Good_. She ended up with her leather purse nearly full, well, she would be able to buy herself something to eat after all. She thanked the other players and went back to the counter, where she ordered some bread, and in a plate, a slice of ham and potatoes. It had been a while since she had eaten something like that. It felt so good.

She didn't notice the man leaned against the wooden wall, a pint in his only hand, his hook rubbing his chin, who was peering at her since she had told him not to force himself on her. What an infuriating woman, he thought, drinking his rum regularly. And he couldn't suppress the smirk that was crossing his features.

_After all, he loved a challenge._

When she was done with her meal, she went out of the tavern, the sheets of paper in her hands and finally felt the presence of someone spying her, so she inscreased her pace and passed along the most narrow streets, the ones nobody who wasn't used to the town would know and arrived at her shelter few moments after.

She checked out that nobody was watching her and slid into her small lodging, laying on the bed and soon enough, sleep caught her and she was swallowed by darkness.

She woke up rather early, because the docks were never quiet, especially when pirates came to town and were loading their ship. She stepped outside, and a sheet of paper that the wind was carrying ended up against her face. She grabbed it and read it. 'Captain Killian 'Hook' Jones, wanted dead or alive' and Emma's mouth dropped open when she read the reward she would be getting for his capture.

_Great plan, she thought._

Especially because she had met him and he was an arrogant bastard and she didn't like him at all.

Nevertheless, she noticed that the sheet of paper didn't have the same handwriting than usual. Well, maybe they changed the person who writes the posters. She took her daggers and put them in her boots, easily at hands reach, she took her bow and arrows, and tied her tiny crossbow to her belt next to her sword.

People could say she was too loaded, but she didn't know what weapon would be the best to use against a pirate. They were know for their exceptionnal sworfighting skills, and she was sure she could handle him, but he had his crew, so maybe it would be better to shout an arrow at him when he is alone enough, and rob him from his men before they could react. With an arrow in his anckle, he wouldn't be able to run. And of course, she had taken her daggers in case she'd have to go fast and discreetly.

She climbed up to the roof the warehouse, giving her a great view of the harbor and the pirate ship. Her next victim was nowhere to be seen. She reconsidered her plan. Should she infiltrate the vessel when his crew would go to the tavern? Well, that was the best option she had. She was just hoping he wouldn't go with his men. And the few sailors remaining on the ship to protect it wouldn't be a problem, she had her crossbow with her special arrows.

She sat on the roof of the buidling for a while, watching the horizon, her eyes flickering back from time to time to the vessel everytime she heard a noise loud enough to alert her that the crewmen where on deck. She just had to wait that they left.

Finally, they did. She came down on the docks and quietly headed toward the ship, hiding behind boxes waiting to come aboard. When the crew weren't in sight anymore, she walked up the wooden plank connecting the deck to the dock, and, with her weapons ready to fire, she aboarded the ship. She wasn't noticed by the sailors so she made her way down, to the corridors leading to the captain quarters, where _he _was.

When she reached the room she was seeking, she was startled. He wasn't there. She stepped warily into it, her eyes flickering to the open door and to the inside of the quarters. Suddenly, it closed in a thud and Emma ran to the door, hitting it with her fists. "Open it. Do you hear me?"

God, she had been trapped like a novice – which she wasn't. How was it even possible? She was sure he had been in his quarters. "Shhh... love." The voice of that bastard came through the door. "Did you really think that tricking a pirate would be so easy? I mean, we're the tricky ones, remember?"

"Let me out, pirate, or I-"

"You what?" She could hear his smirk as he spoke. He was delighted by having her prisoner aboard his ship. "You're gonna bring me to the soldiers? Well, too bad for you, we've already set sail, the moment you boarded the ship."

Her eyes widened. _No. That wasn't possible_. He chuckled, his mischievious voice filling the air. "My men ran back to the ship when you came aboard. I knew you'd come. You're a bounty hunter, right?"

"Did you write the poster?"

"What poster?" His tone was genuine, he seemed really startled.

"It wasn't you, was it?"

"Well, it wasn't. I just knew you'd come because you're a bounty hunter, and pirates – even the ones you don't know," he added this because their conversation of the last night,"always enable your kind of people to make a lot of money, so... it wasn't difficult to make the links."

"Why did you want me to come?" Her voice was daring, challenging, and wary. It wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. She was trapped on Captain Hook's ship, with no way out if he was telling the truth and they had indeed set sail.

_No way out._

"Well, I love a challenge." He winked at her and she heard him walked up to the deck, the fading sound of his steps echoing into her brain as she fell on the ground and came back to reality and everything that it implied.

_She was trapped on the sea._

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**Okay guys, I wanna know: what did you think about it?  
Is that good?  
Is that bad?**

Just tell me, it'll help me know what I've to dig or improve!

**And I bet you have a lot of questions, so ask them, and I'll tell you if I plan to answer them soon or not in this story!**

**Really, let a review, it's always nice to see what people think & it feeds my muse!**

**Love you all~ **


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